<Begin Segment 18>

MN: Now you were twelve when you entered Tanforan and you were thirteen when you entered Topaz, and you're just at that age where girls started the menstrual cycle. And so can you share with us like how did you learn about this? Did they have sex education in Topaz? How did girls learn about this?

KI: I think from each other. I think from each other in most cases. I know I learned it from my friend too. And I don't know how it came about if she just said, well you know, maybe she asked me if I was having my periods yet and so she told me what would happen. So, and I checked with my mother and I don't remember much about the agonies of it or anything. I don't remember anything I have no good or bad or any recollections of what it was like to have a period in camp.

MN: So you were not one of those girls that had cramps?

KI: Oh, no I was so lucky even when I was going to high school after we came out of camp and my girlfriend said, "Oh, I can't go to school today I have a headache and I'm cramping and I have pain." So I think that way I've been lucky because even when I was going through the hot flashes it was maybe two weeks and it was over and it wasn't bad. [Laughs] So I was just very lucky that way.

MN: But when your body started to change, you are in this camp where there's a lot of people, very little privacy, did that make you uncomfortable?

KI: I think so but not to the... I guess because we were all, my girlfriends and I were going through the same thing at the same time, about the same time so I don't remember making a big issue out of it. I know that there were changes going on, our breasts were getting bigger and we're just feeling different.

MN: And then the females, where did you buy your feminine napkins?

KI: I don't remember buying it but I guess my mother did at the canteen. I mean, I know they had them both in Tanforan and in Topaz because females are females, they need it.

MN: Did you ever have any accidents in camp?

KI: Not bad ones, maybe a stain on the pants or something like that but nothing where it would run down the leg or big blotches of it and things like that.

MN: Was that pretty common in camp to see girls having some of these accidents?

KI: I don't think it was common if it was it was hidden. I mean, because it's embarrassing you're not going to make a big thing out of it. I'm sure there were accidents.

MN: Now I was mentioning to you I was looking at some of those photos in your book and your hair is done and a lot of the young girls have their hair done. How do you... did you give each other perms or how did you get your hair so curly?

KI: Well, I don't think my hair was actually curly but it had more of big bouffant or like a roller type rather than the kinky permanent type, 'cause my hair was... I've always had a lot of hair. It was hard to manage and we would roll it up, put bobby pins in it. But I didn't have a permanent. I don't think they had permanents in camp.

MN: But mainly the girls got their hairs curly from the rollers?

KI: Either rollers or I remember we used little, I don't know if it was then, but there were times when we used little rags, little strips of rags and you would curl, make a roll and then you would put the little rag through that and then tie it in place of a roller instead of a metal or plastic roller that you had later. But I remember doing, maybe for a very, very short time myself but I don't think I kept it up. But it was mainly clips and bobby pins and things that you did, kept our hair up and I don't think I ever... I don't think I wore a pony tail. I don't remember seeing many pictures of kids being in pony tails in pictures.

MN: A lot of the pictures I see, the young girls have their hairs up like a bouffant or it's really poufy.

KI: Yeah, I guess on the sides my hair was down but then the front part was, we called it a pompadour, different heights.

MN: Now I think you mentioned church in Topaz was Block 32, and before the war you were a Christian but did you participate in Buddhist activities like the Bon Odori?

KI: In camp, yeah. 'Cause it was just a camp wide thing and so we all just went out and practiced and then the big night, then we all danced together.

MN: Did you wear yukata?

KI: No.

MN: Did they have a big taiko for the Obon?

KI: I don't remember.

MN: Now let's see, what about movies, did they show movies in Topaz?

KI: Again, the ones that I remember, the movie house was in Block 32 but it was in the recreation hall. So we all sat on the floor, we all brought blankets or chairs, sat on our sweaters or something like that. It was very hot and stuffy in there even though it was in the evening, we had to open up the windows there. We did have them in the rec hall there and then after the big auditorium was built in the center of the camp, then we had movies there.

MN: Now, let's see, on April 11, 1943, Mr. James Wakasa was shot and killed by a guard. How did you hear about this incident?

KI: Probably just announcement in the mess hall, but I don't remember anything about it. I don't remember anything about it.

MN: So it didn't really affect you?

KI: No, and it wasn't, I don't think it was near our... it might have been... I don't know where, exact spot was that he was killed. And I know that they had a camp wide service but I didn't go to that or I don't remember going to it.

MN: Now when the "loyalty questionnaire" came out in 1943, did your father go to any of the meetings?

KI: I don't know.

MN: Was it an issue with your family?

KI: Not that I know of.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.